An event to celebrate the first substantial selection of poems by SuAndi, recipient of the Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature.

Leaning Against Time collects a poetry of people’s stories. Here the poet tries on and speaks in the voices of characters of all ages, races and genders, but especially those voices rarely loud enough to catch attention. Sometimes the personal conflicts with representing others, oftentimes the political and personal are scripted in partnership. SuAndi’s poems defy easy categorisation and make visible on the page a remarkable trailblazing writing career.

In 2024, SuAndi was named as one of Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage’s 100 Black Women Who Have Made A Mark. This is a unique opportunity to hear one of Britain’s most powerful poetic voices live!

SuAndi is a writer, poet and arts practitioner born and raised in Manchester. Longtime freelance cultural director of the National Black Arts Alliance, she is the recipient of an OBE, a Doctor of Arts from Manchester Metropolitan University and a Doctor of Letters degree from Lancaster University. Her awards include the Windrush Inspirational Award, Winston Churchill Fellowship, Hope and Inspiration Award for Work Supporting Black History Month, NESTA Dream Time Fellowship, Big Issue in the North Individual Inspirational Award and the MBMEN Lifetime Award. In 2023 SuAndi was the recipient, in her hometown, of the Manchester Culture Special Recognition Award.

Image credit: Book cover of SuAndi’s Leaning Against Time.  Author photograph by Julian Kronfli.

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